Indie Title ‘BattleBit Remastered’ Emerges as a Breakout PC Game Success

If there is one genre that may never go out of style, it’s the military shooter, wherein players put on their virtual combat gear and wage war. Four out of the six paid titles on this week’s top 10 Steam sellers fall into this category.

“BattleBit Remastered,” an indie multiplayer shooter that prides itself on a low-polygon aesthetic reminiscent of “Roblox” or “Minecraft,” was the top paid game of the week by revenue on the primary PC game distribution service’s leaderboard. Behind the simple exterior lies a combat-heavy military shooter featuring guns, helicopters, tanks and high-octane action that fans of the genre have come to expect. It costs $15 right now as an “early access” title, meaning it’s a game that’s still in development but is able to be purchased and played.

It retained the top paid spot on Steam for the second week in a row, now sporting over 26,000 reviews, more than doubled from last week’s 12,000. Given the “very positive” overall reception on Steam, it appears general buzz and great word of mouth are catapulting the indie title to prominence, a feat that’s particularly useful for a game dependent on maintaining a community and player base.

Runaway indie successes aren’t unheard of, but it’s not quite so common for them to bark up the multiplayer military shooter tree typically dominated by Activision’s “Call of Duty,” EA’s “Battlefield” and similar titles. Which brings us to this week’s second surprise: military shooter “Six Days in Fallujah” was the second most revenue-rich paid game on Steam this week. It’s a $40 early access title with 3,000-plus reviews. Its overall rating is “very positive,” but some negative reviews ding it for a lack of content, which may hobble its ability to maintain a top sales spot.

“Six Days in Fallujah” has also been the target of some controversy regarding its depiction of the Iraq War and the Second Battle of Fallujah. It’s unclear if the controversy is affecting sales in any meaningful way.

The third best-selling paid game of the week, and seventh overall on the weekly chart, was “Dead by Daylight.” The $20 asymmetrical multiplayer title, in which survivors must outwit a killer and escape from a location (think of it as an interactive slasher flick you can play through with friends), maintained a spot in the top 10 overall best sellers list for June 20-27 despite military shooters threatening to crowd it out. It’s been in the top 100 for far longer — 320 weeks, to be precise.

“Dead by Daylight” has almost half a million reviews on Steam and a healthy player base, so its continued presence is no surprise. But it’s the surprises the developers throw out that occasionally cause a rankings surge like this. For example, Nicolas Cage is coming to the game, playing the role of himself. He’s far from the first Hollywood entity to join the game, but typically, said entities take the form of famous Hollywood horror mascots (Leatherface or Freddy Krueger, for example), so Cage’s arrival is a bit of a shakeup.

The Hollywood connection goes both ways, too; “Dead by Daylight” is getting the film treatment through Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster.

The fourth best-selling paid PC game of the week, and eighth overall, was “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” It dropped from last week, when it was not only riding higher but actually controlled two of the top 10 revenue spots on the list thanks to a pricey “Modern Warfare 2” add-on release. Now, the add-on has disappeared from the top 10, leaving only the main game on the chart. Despite the drop, the latest entry in Activision’s famous military shooter franchise isn’t hurting; the $70 game has been on the board for 49 weeks straight.

Clocking in at No. 9 overall and fifth in terms of paid games was “Street Fighter 6,” Capcom’s latest fighter. It’s up to 9,000 reviews and its maintained presence in the top 10 proves it has more staying power than the average fighting game, likely due to a mixture of its recognizable brand name as well as exceptionally strong reviews.

Lastly, rounding out the top 10 was the sixth highest-revenue paid game of the week, “Aliens: Dark Descent,” a $40 strategy-based top-down shooter featuring soldiers facing off against hordes of xenomorphs. It launched on June 19, only cracking the top 10 in this, its second week on sale. “Dark Descent” marks the fourth paid game this week, out of six total, to be some variety of military shooter.

The rest of the chart went to free-to-play titles that make their revenue via in-game microtransactions, accruing revenue after having already welcomed players in. The only spot controlled by something that didn’t fall into either paid or free-to-play game categories was for Valve’s Steam Deck hardware, which was the fifth most revenue-rich product of the week thanks to its $400 starting price tag (the most expensive model costs $650) and longstanding demand from audiences. Think of it as a handheld PC dedicated to gaming.

If there is one genre that may never go out of style, it’s the military shooter, wherein players put on their virtual combat gear and wage war. Four out of the six paid titles on this week’s top 10 Steam sellers fall into this category.

“BattleBit Remastered,” an indie multiplayer shooter that prides itself on a low-polygon aesthetic reminiscent of “Roblox” or “Minecraft,” was the top paid game of the week by revenue on the primary PC game distribution service’s leaderboard. Behind the simple exterior lies a combat-heavy military shooter featuring guns, helicopters, tanks and high-octane action that fans of the genre have come to expect. It costs $15 right now as an “early access” title, meaning it’s a game that’s still in development but is able to be purchased and played.

It retained the top paid spot on Steam for the second week in a row, now sporting over 26,000 reviews, more than doubled from last week’s 12,000. Given the “very positive” overall reception on Steam, it appears general buzz and great word of mouth are catapulting the indie title to prominence, a feat that’s particularly useful for a game dependent on maintaining a community and player base.

Runaway indie successes aren’t unheard of, but it’s not quite so common for them to bark up the multiplayer military shooter tree typically dominated by Activision’s “Call of Duty,” EA’s “Battlefield” and similar titles. Which brings us to this week’s second surprise: military shooter “Six Days in Fallujah” was the second most revenue-rich paid game on Steam this week. It’s a $40 early access title with 3,000-plus reviews. Its overall rating is “very positive,” but some negative reviews ding it for a lack of content, which may hobble its ability to maintain a top sales spot.

“Six Days in Fallujah” has also been the target of some controversy regarding its depiction of the Iraq War and the Second Battle of Fallujah. It’s unclear if the controversy is affecting sales in any meaningful way.

The third best-selling paid game of the week, and seventh overall on the weekly chart, was “Dead by Daylight.” The $20 asymmetrical multiplayer title, in which survivors must outwit a killer and escape from a location (think of it as an interactive slasher flick you can play through with friends), maintained a spot in the top 10 overall best sellers list for June 20-27 despite military shooters threatening to crowd it out. It’s been in the top 100 for far longer — 320 weeks, to be precise.

“Dead by Daylight” has almost half a million reviews on Steam and a healthy player base, so its continued presence is no surprise. But it’s the surprises the developers throw out that occasionally cause a rankings surge like this. For example, Nicolas Cage is coming to the game, playing the role of himself. He’s far from the first Hollywood entity to join the game, but typically, said entities take the form of famous Hollywood horror mascots (Leatherface or Freddy Krueger, for example), so Cage’s arrival is a bit of a shakeup.

The Hollywood connection goes both ways, too; “Dead by Daylight” is getting the film treatment through Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster.

The fourth best-selling paid PC game of the week, and eighth overall, was “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” It dropped from last week, when it was not only riding higher but actually controlled two of the top 10 revenue spots on the list thanks to a pricey “Modern Warfare 2” add-on release. Now, the add-on has disappeared from the top 10, leaving only the main game on the chart. Despite the drop, the latest entry in Activision’s famous military shooter franchise isn’t hurting; the $70 game has been on the board for 49 weeks straight.

Clocking in at No. 9 overall and fifth in terms of paid games was “Street Fighter 6,” Capcom’s latest fighter. It’s up to 9,000 reviews and its maintained presence in the top 10 proves it has more staying power than the average fighting game, likely due to a mixture of its recognizable brand name as well as exceptionally strong reviews.

Lastly, rounding out the top 10 was the sixth highest-revenue paid game of the week, “Aliens: Dark Descent,” a $40 strategy-based top-down shooter featuring soldiers facing off against hordes of xenomorphs. It launched on June 19, only cracking the top 10 in this, its second week on sale. “Dark Descent” marks the fourth paid game this week, out of six total, to be some variety of military shooter.

The rest of the chart went to free-to-play titles that make their revenue via in-game microtransactions, accruing revenue after having already welcomed players in. The only spot controlled by something that didn’t fall into either paid or free-to-play game categories was for Valve’s Steam Deck hardware, which was the fifth most revenue-rich product of the week thanks to its $400 starting price tag (the most expensive model costs $650) and longstanding demand from audiences. Think of it as a handheld PC dedicated to gaming.